Intern Workload

[OBDude]

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So I'm a solid 3 months into internship, and find myself working harder than I could have imagined. I figured that this was just the life of an intern until I talked with my colleagues in other fields. I've been seeing 15 minute appts since day 1, with an average of 10-12 pt's in my clinic per half day not including postpartum rounds (5-10pts), and on average 15-20 pt's per 12 hours in triage (not including deliveries, of which I'm just over 50).

My primary care colleagues are seeing on average 5 per half day, and gen surg colleagues aren't assigned thier own clinics, but they work the attending's schedule seeing 5-10 per half day.

I love my job, but I'm getting a little cooked, and can't believe that I'm looking forward to my off-service rotation for a little respit.

Anyone else have the same experience?

(Not necessarily b*tching, just curious)

 

[Diane L. Evans]

The training is very intense. What you are doing is NOTHING compared to my intern yr. I rounded on 30+ patients each morning. I understand your frustration but you need those volumes in order to learn.

 

[tootsweet]

I'm an FP intern (at a large academic urban high risk hospital) but just got off the OB service (we do 1 mo on the ob service sharing the work with the ob intern and then do Ob on the FP service thereafter). The ob intern and I would split post-partum rounds and routinely see 20-30 PP patients along with covering phone triage. It was supremely hectic. I think she saw a similar number as you quoted in clinic..probably fewer in triage (NP and off-service intern split the work with the ob intern).

As an FP intern I see 4-6 people per half day in clinic. As it's the beginning of the year, many of these are new patients with complex medical problems (we also do paps, IUDs and colpos in clinic) so they take longer than your average prenatal (other than intake) visit or annual.

I've been working hard but the ob interns are worked to the bone (over 4 weeks I saw 2 interns break down in tears due to stress). From what I saw and what my ob resident friends tell me, what you're experiencing is pretty normal.